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The Editorial Staff
Berry magazine

VOL. 103, NO. 2 | WINTER 2016-17

BERRY
14 Justice served
Lisa Slavovsky (01C) walks alongside victims
of violence in the developing world

Early ace for tennis center
THE ROME TENNIS CENTER AT
BERRY COLLEGE was envisioned

as a source of tourism for the
local community and opportu­
nity for Berry students, and it’s
shaping up as a winner all
around.
A public-private partnership
funded by a voter-approved
special purpose sales tax, the
facility has already welcomed
several events sanctioned by the
United States Tennis Association,
with many more expected in
2017. This spring, it will host
Berry tennis matches as well as
its first major collegiate
tournament – the Atlantic Coast
Conference men’s and women’s
championships. The ACC
includes such universities as
North Carolina, Duke, Notre
Dame, Clemson, Virginia Tech,

Georgia Tech, Florida State and
Wake Forest.
With 60 asphalt courts spread
across approximately 30 acres of
Berry-donated property just
north of Mount Berry Mall, the
center has staked its claim as the
largest single-surface tennis
facility in the United States. It
opened to rave reviews in July,
with USTA Executive Director
Gordon Smith declaring, “Less
than a handful of communities
in the entire country come close
to matching what you have here.
You should all give yourselves a
round of applause.”
The center is also a learning
laboratory for students working
on site through Berry’s Work
Experience Program. These
opportunities will expand when
plans are finalized for the

addition of a USTA-accredited
Profes­sional Tennis Management
program leading to certification
by the United States Professional
Tennis Association.
Open to students of all
majors, the PTM program will
offer a unique combination of
online modules developed by
the USTA, hands-on work
experience, and summer intern­
ships on site and at other tennis
facilities nationwide, providing a
pathway to the knowledge, skills
and experience required for a
career in the tennis industry.
“There are only a few PTM
programs in the country,” said
center Executive Director Tom
Daglis. “It’s the crème de la
crème. Employers know that a
student who has gone through it
has the skills to be successful.”

ghp

Surprise gift spurs theatre project
STUDENTS WILL COMMAND THE STAGE of
Berry’s new theatre when it is completed
later this year, but it was project champion
Audrey Morgan who stole the show at the
Sept. 27 groundbreaking with her
announce­ment of a new $1 million
commitment to the facility by the
foundation of her late sister, Dr. M. Bobbie
Bailey.
“Over the years I’ve volunteered and
supported a lot of great causes,” said
Morgan, a Board of Visitors member and
honorary Berry alumna. “And standing right
by my side and supporting me in all of my
endeavors was my sister and business
partner, Bobbie Bailey.”
News of this latest commitment came
just one year after Morgan’s original
$1 million challenge gift initiated fundraising
for the $6.7 million project. In the months
between, an additional $4 million was
contributed by alumni and friends.
At press time, the project was less

GOVERNOR’S HONORS PROGRAM

BERRY IS NEW HOST
OF GOVERNOR’S
HONORS PROGRAM
BERRY COLLEGE HAS BEEN SELECTED as the

Ryan Smith (00C)

Audrey Morgan, right, speaks at the groundbreaking
for Berry’s new theatre; students transformed the
BOLD ropes course into an outdoor venue for Peter
and the Starcatcher.

student photographer Sara Leimbach

new site of Georgia’s prestigious
Governor’s Honors Program, an annual
four-week summer residential program for
650 of the most gifted and talented high
school students in Georgia. GHP is the
longest continuously running summer
enrichment program in the nation and had
been held at Valdosta State University for
more than 30 years.
“We are thrilled to serve as host,” said
Berry President Steve Briggs. “Berry’s
campus is an ideal setting for a residential
program that offers innovative and
engaging experiences. We expect the GHP
students to make the most of this amazing
place and its academic, artistic and
recreational opportunities. What a great
way for them to test-drive what college can
be.”
The GHP aims to provide a unique
learning experience that cultivates and
challenges the next generation of global
critical thinkers, innovators and leaders.
The program is structured to offer
challenging “majors” in academic areas
and the arts, while also helping students
build meaningful relationships with their
fellow participants. Berry was chosen from
a group of colleges and universities across
the state expressing interest in hosting the
program and helping support its continued
advancement; Berry also will host 1,500
students and their parents on campus this
winter for final GHP interviews and
auditions.
“Our specialty is a great residential
academic community,” said Berry Vice
President for Student Affairs Debbie
Heida, “and that fits with the Governor’s
Honors Program. We’ll treat these students
as our own.”

than $300,000 short of completion.
Construction is well underway on the
east side of Blackstone Hall for the 9,226
square-foot, 250-seat theatre with black-box
stage that will usher in an entirely new era
for Berry theatre. In addition, updates to
support facilities within Blackstone will
breathe new life into the oldest permanent
brick structure on the Berry campus.
Although temporarily displaced by the
construction, the theatre program – under
the leadership of new director Dr. Anna
Filippo – has continued to entertain and
inspire. Embracing the adage “The show
must go on!” the Berry College Theatre
Company is staging productions outdoors
and elsewhere on the Berry campus.
At the groundbreaking, Morgan praised
Berry students’ “Broadway-quality talent,”
noting, “This is not a ‘build it and hope they
will come’ project, because they are
already here.”

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

3

Honoring Pearson
EFFORTS TO RECOGNIZE A PIONEER in Berry’s inter­collegiate

student photographer Sara Leimbach

INSIDE THE GATE

Warming of Penn State and
athletics program have ushered in a new era of lighted
Ray Leone of Maryland.
Bob Pearson, second from right, is joined at
competition for the college’s soccer and softball programs, as
“Bob Pearson is and will
the first lighted soccer game on Pearson Field
well as a name of distinction for the soccer facility.
always
be known to me as
by (from left) grandson Jack Jr., wife Janice,
Dr. Bob Pearson, professor of kinesiology emeritus, was on
the
patriarch
of Berry
daughter Holly Gaston (93C) and son Jack.
hand Sept. 1 to see the Berry soccer women notch a 1-0
College men’s and women’s
victory in the first-ever night game on the field that now bears
soccer,” Leone said. “His
his name. He also plans to attend the official field dedication during
support of women’s soccer was visionary at a time when few knew
the April 29 men’s and women’s soccer reunion.
where college women’s sports was going.”
Built in the 1980s during Pearson’s tenure as athletic director, the
Basking in the glow of the new soccer lights are other improve­
soccer complex is just one example of the many advances he helped
ments such as a larger scoreboard, permanent bleachers and, most
bring about while working to expand equality and opportunity for
notably, a two-story building housing media facilities, concessions and
Berry’s student-athletes.
restrooms. This building was made possible by the generosity of Brad
Among those supporting the naming effort was an impressive
and Mary Gooch, retirees who became enthusiastic and generous fans
group of former Berry coaches who later worked in NCAA Division I,
of Berry soccer after relocating to the Rome area.
including one-time Creighton and Stanford coach Bret Simon (82G);
Lights at the adjacent softball field made their debut last spring,
Kurt Swanbeck, formerly of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point;
helping to light the way to another Southern Athletic Association
and three current head coaches: Becky Burleigh of Florida, Bob
champion­ship for the Vikings.

student photographer Sara Leimbach

Let there be light

4

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

By the numbers
FIVE-HUNDRED, THIRTY-FOUR FRESHMEN and 39 transfer

students took their initial steps through the Gate
of Opportunity last fall, joining a student body
enriched by historic retention rates at all levels of
the college. The result was a total enrollment of
2,174 (including 101 graduate students).
The newcomers are geographically diverse –
photo by Jennifer Dickey (77A, 80C)

representing more than 25 different states and
several foreign countries – and individually
accomplished, with seven valedictorians and five
salutatorians among them. One-third of the
freshmen who reported rank finished in the top

AN EXTENSIVE PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION EFFORT has
helped ensure that one of the oldest buildings on the Berry
campus will continue to serve as a visible reminder of the
college’s historic roots.
Cabin in the Pines, which is nestled between Hermann
Hall and Barnwell Chapel along the Road of Remembrance,
received a new stone foundation, exterior logs, roof and
floor during work completed in the fall. Brothers Mike and
David Crook – the same craftsmen who completed the
restoration of Roosevelt Cabin – also stabilized cabin walls,
restored the ceiling, refaced the fireplace and rebuilt the
firebox.
Thought to have been constructed in the late 1880s, the
structure first was known by Martha Berry as a tenant
house for her father’s workers. It later served as a day
school, club meeting room, handicrafts center and Sunday
school room. The last major restoration was in 1986.
“Berry’s historic buildings are part of what makes the
campus special,” said Dr. Jennifer Dickey (77A, 80C),
Berry’s campus preservationist and a history professor at
Kennesaw State University. “They are part of who we are as
an institution, and it’s important to continue to preserve
them.”
Funding for the project was provided by the National
Society Daughters of the American Revolution and their
Junior Membership Committee, the Daughters of Berry,
donors to Berry’s Historic Preservation Fund, and revenue
from film and television shoots on campus.

2,174

25
5607
than two-thirds were in the top 25 percent. Many
also have strong family ties to Berry, with more
than 60 declaring alumni as relatives.

student photographer Sara Leimbach

Campus landmark
gets new life

10 percent of their high school classes, and more

KCAB welcomes
the class of 2020
to campus

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

5

INSIDE THE GATE

SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS

student photographer Sara Leimbach

Recruited to build a program from the ground
up, Berry’s first full class of football seniors will
graduate as co-champions of the Southern Athletic
Association.
The Vikings posted a 9-1 record last fall, the
best in the program’s four-year history. They
finished a perfect 5-0 on Williams Field at Valhalla
and were 7-1 in the SAA, tying Washington
University in St. Louis for first place.
A come-from-behind victory over Centre
marked the end of the line for the team’s 36
seniors, but their accomplishments won’t soon be
forgotten. Their résumé includes Berry’s
unforgettable first-ever varsity win on Mountain
Day 2014, back-to-back winning seasons in 2015
and 2016, and a sparkling 9-1 record at Valhalla.
“It would be hard to write a better script for this class,” said Berry
head coach Tony Kunczewski. “They’ve certainly left a mark on our
football program. More importantly, they’ve left a mark on Berry. We
can’t wait to see what the future holds for these men. They’ve been
leaders here since day one.”
Kunczewski was honored as 2016 SAA Coach of the Year, and 17
players were All-Conference selections. They were led by SAA
Defensive Player of the Year Mamadou Soumahoro, who also became
Berry’s first football All-American.

student photographer Sara Leimbach

Championship season

The women’s cross country team also made
history last fall, winning its first SAA
championship and posting a best-ever sixth-place
finish in NCAA Division III regional competition.
Senior captain Danielle Patterson, pictured at
right, paced her team by finishing second
individually in the SAA meet and fifth in the
regional race held in Berry’s Clara Bowl. Her
regional time of 22:32.30 earned her an additional
distinction as the program’s first NCAA national qualifier.
Paul Deaton (91C) was honored as SAA Women’s Cross Country
Coach of the Year in recognition of the team’s success, while freshman
Abby Carroll was named the conference’s top newcomer.

student photographer Russell Maddrey

All-American success

6

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

Three Berry volleyball players – junior Hannah Kate
Thompson and seniors Jessica Gum and Katie Truluck –
earned praise as honorable-mention All-Americans from
the American Volleyball Coaches Association after leading
their team to a 23-10 record and a runner-up finish in the
SAA tournament. Truluck also was named SAA Defensive
Player of the Year.
In women’s soccer, senior Maggie Midkiff (pictured)
again claimed Academic All-America recognition from the
College Sports Information Directors of America.

student photographer JoCee North

Race to the top

MBA
FLEX

Zane Cochran

gives students more options
A FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING OPTION combining online activities with

Berry parents establish matching fund
for Ford Auditorium renovation
WITH CONSTRUCTION WELL UNDERWAY ON BERRY’S NEW THEATRE,
attention has turned to the second major arts priority of the LifeReady
Campaign – renovation of historic Ford Auditorium into a first-class
recital hall.
To encourage support for the $4.9 million project, Berry parents
Rick and Barbara Gaby recently stepped forward with a $300,000
commitment to provide a dollar-for-dollar match for new gifts by
others, doubling their impact. This effort follows the lead of other
successful matching programs supporting Gate of Opportunity
Scholarships, Clark Track and the new theatre.
Built in the late 1920s at the direction of Henry Ford himself, Ford
Auditorium long has served as Berry’s signature venue for music
performance. Planned enhancements include an enlarged stage, 366
seats in an arched configuration, redesigned balcony, highperformance acoustics, digital lighting and sound systems, climatecontrolled instrument storage, renovated foyer and lobby, and
restoration of historic architectural elements.
Contact Scott Breithaupt (91C, 96G) at 706-238-5897 or
sbreithaupt@berry.edu for more information on the matching program
as well as the many naming opportunities available. For project
updates visit www.berry.edu/fordauditorium.

traditional classroom sessions is making it more convenient than
ever before to earn a master’s degree in business administration
from Berry’s Campbell School of Business.
Launched in the fall, FlexMBA is one of two ways to earn a
Berry MBA. It complements the “fast-track” program introduced in
2015, which allows students to complete their degrees in one year
(four semesters) by taking a full class load. Both options are meant
to increase access to the program, even for students who don’t
have an undergraduate degree in business.
FlexMBA opened the door of opportunity for Mack Wright,
who works from home as program manager for a national health
care organization while also looking after the son he shares with
wife Dr. Lauren Denney Wright, a member of Berry’s music faculty.
“I have needed to pursue an MBA for many years to advance
my career, but life was always in the way,” he said. “With my job, I
often travel. A few years ago this would have resulted in a failing
grade in each course due to the rigid attendance requirements and
lack of technology to enable distance learning.”
Now Wright and other FlexMBA students can watch recorded
lectures and classroom discussions online; use Skype for Business
to participate in classes, meet with professors or work with fellow
students; and discuss projects, readings and other topics with
classmates through online forums hosted by Berry.
“Without these positive program developments, I would not
have pursued an MBA, or I would have looked to another college
or university to meet my needs,” Wright said.

Draut joins advancement staff
strongly motivated to work with alumni and friends in
support of Berry’s mission because he understands
personally just how special his new place of employment
is. Both of his daughters are Berry students: Alexis is a
senior and Hannah a freshman.
Draut came to Berry from Centre College where he
served as director of leadership gifts and the parents
program. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Eastern
Kentucky University and a master’s degree from Webster
University and spent 20 years in the corporate world as a product
manager before transitioning to fundraising. He and wife Maureen
round out their family with two rescued canines, Parker and Jett.

student photographer Sara Leimbach

Robert Boag

NEW SENIOR ADVANCEMENT OFFICER DOUG DRAUT is

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

7

heart

portion of Berry’s timeless “head, heart and
hands” mission, and you’re likely to hear
references to service or to the school’s
Christian heritage, which was celebrated last
fall with the centennial anniversary of the
Berry College Chapel. For the Rev. Dr.
Jonathan Huggins and his staff in the
chaplain’s office, it means actively
encouraging students to take matters of faith
seriously and engage in their own spiritual
growth.
“We help students develop a wellinformed, thinking faith,” said Huggins, who
also serves as pastor of Mount Berry Church.
“We want to help students grow in their
understanding of God and virtue, of religious
devotion and practice, and to have a clearer
vision of who they ought to be in the world.”
CULTIVATING SPIRITUAL MATURITY

While the “heart” of Berry’s mission is
reflected throughout campus culture, its
spiritual essence has its home in the college’s
voluntary Religious Life program, which
focuses on helping students navigate a broad
spectrum of issues and develop spiritual
maturity in their thoughts, feelings and
actions.
Operating out of the chaplain’s office,
Religious Life encompasses all the things you
might expect – small-group meetings, discus­
sions about theology and social issues, Bible
studies, and service opportunities – each
grounded in the commitment to welcome
students of every faith tradition, as well as
those who have no spiritual foundation.
“We try to meet students where they are,
and we don’t impose our views,” Huggins
said. “We pray, we listen, and we do our best
to provide wisdom and support.”
SERVANT LEADERS

Forty-seven years after the end of
mandatory church attendance on the Berry
campus, religious life remains vibrant thanks,
in part, to dedicated students who work and

8

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

serve in leadership roles for the chaplain’s
office, Mount Berry Church and other
related groups. Working alongside Huggins
and his assistant chaplain, the Rev. Erin
Moniz (03C), students in the chaplain’s
office, religious-life groups and Mount Berry
Church coordinate 12 to 15 events each
week, including concerts and nationally
recognized speakers hosted by the Lumen
Lecture Series.
“Our student workers and leaders have
very demanding jobs that require a range of
skills and the ability to work as a team,”
Moniz said. “It’s high-level work. We
wouldn’t be able to accomplish what we do
without them.”
FOREVER CHRISTIAN, ALWAYS WELCOMING

At a time when religion often is a divisive
issue, Berry strives to balance its pledge to be
“forever Christian in spirit” with the deep
desire and commitment to welcome people
from diverse religious traditions and help
students from different backgrounds find
ways to express their faith.
“We work to find connecting points,
common ground,” Huggins said.
Some of those connecting points are
found in the interdenominational Christian
worship service of Mount Berry Church.
Others are forged through the 12 student-led
religious-life groups on campus, which
include major Christian denominations as
well as groups for students of other faiths.
Still more connections have been made
through the Interfaith Council, a group of
faculty, administrators and students formed
in 2003 to help foster a welcoming
environment for people of all faiths.
“You can’t turn a corner at Berry without
bumping into opportunities for heart
formation, but the heart isn’t in isolation,”
Moniz said. “We try to help students learn to
integrate the heart into their minds and their
actions. Berry’s mission makes for a very
unique education – and the heart is part of
who we are.” B

Alan Storey

ASK SOMEONE TO DEFINE THE “HEART”

student photographer Jenna Johnson

by DEBBIE RASURE

Mary Claire Stewart (14C)

EDUCATING THE

Mary Claire Stewart (14C)

INSIDE THE GATE

ALUMNI AND FRIENDS GATHERED LAST FALL
TO CELEBRATE THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY

of the Berry College Chapel, the symbolic
heart of Berry’s campus. The Sept. 18 service
featured the combined voices of Berry’s
choirs and remarks by the Rev. Fleming
Rutledge, an internationally known preacher
and teacher. In addition, three new donorfunded musical instruments were dedicated,
including a Steinway piano, Johannus Ecclesia
digital organ, and digital carillon and sound
system.
Designed by architect Harry Carlson of
Boston (who also designed the Ford
Buildings), the college chapel was built by
students in 1915 and dedicated in 1916. Since
that time, it has served as a venue for
religious services, notable speakers and
countless weddings.

From Berry Trails: An historic and
contemporary guide to Berry College, we
share the following facts about the historic
structure’s earliest years:
• Originally called Mount Berry Chapel.
• Made possible by a gift from Mrs. Curtiss
James of New York, whose $50,000
contribution remained anonymous at her
request until 50 years after her death.
• Originally seated 750 but was expanded
in 1927-28 to hold 1,100.
• Featured a specially cast bell in the tone
of B flat, which often was rung to herald
happy times in the lives of students.
• When deteriorating woodwork was
replaced in 1947-48, 47 gallons of honey
were salvaged from a column and served
in the dining halls.
• On June 23, 1917, Henry Grady Hamrick
(12H) and Ethel Edwards (15H) were the
first to be married there.
• Martha Berry was buried on the south
lawn of the chapel on March 1, 1942. A
dogwood tree was planted at the head
of her grave in 1946 and an eternal flame
was lighted in 1966 when she was
recognized with the Atlanta Gas Light
Company’s Shining Light Award.
• Miss Berry personally chose not to be
buried in a more prominent place at the
chapel’s front because the band stood
there during the traditional march of
students into the chapel, and she was
afraid her grave would cause them to
play more softly than they should.

100years
Historic photos courtesy of Berry Archives

t

College chapel marks 100 years

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

9

WELL DONE!

student photographer Sofie DeWandel

photo courtesy of Colleen Curlee (16C)

Awesome adviser
Academic dynasty
The women’s swimming and
diving team has posted a perfect
record in the classroom since its
2009-10 inaugural season: In
seven out of seven years –
including 2016 – the unit has
been named a Scholar AllAmerica Team by the College
Swimming and Diving Coaches
Association of America. This
year, the swimmers and divers
posted a collective GPA of 3.43
during the spring semester to
earn the award.
Numerous other Berry teams
earned similar recognition in
2016 including the baseball
Vikings, who made the grade as
inaugural recipients of the
American Baseball Coaches
Association’s Team Academic
Excellence Award.

Rockin’ job
Colleen Curlee (16C) was a standout during her four
years at Berry, so it should come as no surprise that the
former Gate of Opportunity Scholar and student
videographer was chosen from a pool of 600 applicants
for a coveted film and video internship at Nashville’s Big
Machine Records – home of Taylor Swift and many other
big-name artists. Even more impressive – and also not
surprising – is the fact that the internship culminated
with an offer of full-time employment as a video
coordinator and editor.

Lauren Neumann (16C)

BERRY COLLEGE:

10

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

The College Media
Association has recognized
Berry’s Steven Hames as an
“Honor Roll
Broadcast
Adviser” for
his work
with Viking
Fusion, a
multimedia
website
featuring
content
exclusively
student photographer Sara Leimbach
authored
and produced by Berry students.
Hames, who also serves as
technology specialist in the
communication department, has
shepherded Viking Fusion to
numerous regional and national
honors during his five years as
adviser, including 20 award
nominations (and seven wins!)
in 2016 alone.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT (AGAIN)
What do Forbes, Southern Living, Travel Channel, Southwest
Airlines and Blue Ridge Outdoors have in common? In recent months,
all have focused their considerable spotlights on Berry.
Forbes praised the college as an “undervalued buy” and awarded it
an “A” for financial fitness, while Southern Living referenced the
natural beauty of the Berry campus and its “personalized college
experience” in a feature on the South’s best college towns. Travel
Channel was similarly impressed, including Berry among its 10 favorite
“resort-like campuses,” while readers of Southwest’s inflight magazine
were invited to “traverse the world’s largest campus” while viewing a
striking photo (at left) of the college’s famed Old Mill.
Finally, Berry’s reputation as a really “wild” school made headlines in
Blue Ridge Outdoors, which ranked Berry on its list of the region’s top
13 adventure campuses, noting that the college “even has its own bald
eagle population, a testament to the unspoiled wilderness students
have access to while still being only an hour’s drive from metropolitan
hubs like Atlanta and Chattanooga.”

Luck of the Irish: Allie Crain shows her Berry pride while

Taste of

visiting Ireland’s Cliffs of Moher during a summer 2016 study-abroad
experience at the Waterford Institute of Technology. The junior
double-major in French and communication was one of more than
130 Berry students last summer who participated in study-abroad
opportunities on five different continents.

Olympians and Paralympians

weren’t the only highlevel athletes to compete in
Brazil last summer. Berry

Ambassador for
excellence
Amanda Ashley (16C) aims
for a career in the U.S. Foreign
Service, and she’s getting a
strong start as one of only
30 students nationally in
2016 awarded a U.S. State
Department-funded Thomas
R. Pickering Fellowship.
Chosen from an applicant
pool in the hundreds, the Berry
psychology alumna will receive
up to $75,000 in financial
support while pursuing a
master’s degree in global studies
from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also
will have the opportunity to
complete summer internships in
Washington, D.C., and at an
embassy overseas.

Science of teaching
Mandi Dean (16C) made
history last summer as the first
Berry recipient of a five-year
Knowles Teaching
Fellowship. The doublemajor in mathematics and
secondary education now in
her first year as a geometry
teacher at Ridgeland High
School in Rossville, Ga.,
was one of just 34 early-career
high school science and math
teachers selected nationwide.

Other recipients of the
esteemed fellowships, which
provide summer stipends,
professional development funds,
grants for teaching materials,
and additional mentoring and
support, represent such notable
institutions as Stanford, UCLA,
Amherst and Princeton.

White House
invitation
The rising stature of Berry’s
creative technologies program
was on display last summer
when faculty representatives
were invited to the White House
(yes, that White House) for a
“makerspaces” conference
hosted by the U.S. Office of
Science and Technology. Creative
Technologies Chair John Grout
(below right) and Visiting
Instructor Zane Cochran spent
the day connecting with the
nation’s most talented tinkerers
and exploring ways to improve
student learning and innovation.

volleyball standout Katie
Truluck visited the country in
June as the libero (defensive
specialist) for a team of
10 NCAA Division III
all-stars. This is the
second consecutive year
that Berry has been
represented on the team,
which this time notched
a third-place finish in
competition with top
Brazilian clubs.
student photographer Russell Maddrey

Healthy program
Just four years after work was begun
to develop a bachelor’s degree program
in nursing at Berry, the Georgia Board of
Nursing has granted the program full
approval, and Berry nurses are finding
strong success across the Southeast.
Twenty-eight nursing students graduated
last May, and all have passed their
licensing exam (93 percent on first
attempt) and been hired into health
care systems. Thirteen are working at
metro Atlanta hospitals and 10 in the
health care systems of Floyd County,
with the other five in Tennessee,
South Carolina and Alabama.

reports compiled by student writer KATHERINE EDMONDS

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

11

PRESIDENT’S ESSAY

friendship
—
Dr. Stephen R. Briggs

AN IMPROBABLE

E

DSEL FORD, GREAT-

GRANDSON OF HENRY AND

CLARA FORD, VISITED BERRY

LAST OCTOBER, becoming the first

of the couple’s direct descendants
to visit campus in more than 65
years. The occasion was the filming
of a video honoring the outstanding
humanitarian efforts of Ford Motor
Company dealers around the globe,
and Edsel Ford personally selected
Berry College as the ideal setting.
“Just as Clara and Henry Ford used
their vision and insight to improve the world
around them, these dealers have shown an
unwavering and relentless commitment to
others,” Mr. Ford stated, noting that the
honored dealers “perpetuate the spirit of
Henry Ford and of Martha Berry – working
hard, giving back with a dedication to civic
responsibility.”
Martha Berry’s friendship with Clara and
Henry Ford was truly astonishing. When
they first met, Henry Ford was the wealthiest
man in America and the wealthiest
industrialist in the world. He was about to
produce his 10-millionth car and had already
amassed a vast industrial empire. To put it in
perspective, it would be today as if Bill and
Melinda Gates were to take a sudden and
profound interest in Berry College.
Martha was introduced to the Fords in
1916 at the New Jersey home of Mina and
Thomas Edison; Mina and Martha were
active members of the Daughters of the
American Revolution. Martha later visited
the Edisons and Fords in Muscle Shoals,
Ala., and then met the Fords again in 1922
as they passed through Rome by train en

12

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

route to Florida. Soon after, Henry Ford’s
first gifts of tractors and a truck arrived at
the Berry Schools, and the couple visited
campus in 1923. Over the next two decades,
the Fords stopped at Berry regularly, and
their friendship with Martha grew deep.
Martha was so absorbed in her work that
others became believers. As Edsel Ford put
it: “Henry, in particular, became increasingly
enamored with Martha Berry’s vision for the
school, her foresight and her work ethic.”
In the spirit of Edsel Ford’s recent visit, it
is worth considering again the shared values
that shaped and cemented this improbable
friendship.
DO YOUR BEST WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

When Henry Ford first visited Berry, he
was in the process of building the River
Rouge Complex in Michigan, the largest
factory of its kind in the world. In addition
to being a progressive and humane facility
with ample light for its 100,000 workers, the
revolutionary complex was a model of
vertical integration with its own steel mill,
electrical plant and interior railroad system.
And yet, in the midst of this massive project,

Henry also took delight in
the homegrown Berry
Schools. Although acutely
aware of his wealth and
power, he had not
forgotten his humble
origins as a farm boy. His
love for the old ways and
his genius for the new
remain an intriguing paradox.
After a meal at the log cabin campus of
the girls’ school at Berry, Clara and Henry
were impressed to learn that the girls who
had served the meal also cooked it and that
Berry boys had grown the vegetables, made
the furniture and built the building. Clara
asked to look at the kitchen. The stove was
small and old, the floor pieced together, but
everything was spotlessly clean, even after
the meal. She was impressed with what they
had accomplished given such limited means.
Henry smiled and suggested, “Callie, maybe
you’d like to give the girls a bigger stove.” In
time, the Fords elected to contribute far more.
Henry Ford saw in Martha Berry a fierce
determination to build with the materials at
hand and to carve opportunity out of
adversity. It was the same mindset that
enabled him to succeed during the turbulent
early years of the automotive industry. Both
individuals had a resolve that kept them
working on a problem long after others had
stopped.
IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNITY

Henry Ford was not a talkative man, but
he loosened up during sunset suppers at the
House o’ Dreams. That was the place, high
atop Lavender Mountain overlooking Berry,

where Martha would go for extended stays to
plan and to pray. Up there, she would also ask
the Fords for advice about her plans, and that
was where they would think with her. All
three wanted the schools to succeed; Henry’s
advice was to keep buying land, keep working
hard and keep both feet on the ground.
Henry and Martha talked a lot about
education, but he did not try to tell her or
others what to do. He expressed his approval
in what was being done rather than saying
what ought to be done. He was a vigorous
proponent for practical training and handson learning. He provided substantial funds
for Berry to buy land in the 1920s and ’30s,
and he had a vision for how Berry might
become increasingly self-sufficient. He
believed that agricultural work would
strengthen Berry financially and that it was
good for students to connect with the land.
He sent machinery of every kind – not only
tractors, but also everything students needed
to use the tractors.
For decades, Martha’s chief deputy was
Gordon Keown, an early graduate of the
Berry Schools. Keown purchased most of the
acres the schools acquired and spent hours
with Henry Ford exploring country roads.
One night the two men were watching a
half-dozen school tractors running at 10 p.m.
with lights on. They walked out to the field,
and Henry praised one boy for “saving a
day.” The boy chuckled and responded,
“We’re saving a year. If we get it planted now
at the right time, we’ll make a crop this year.
And if we don’t … we’ll have to wait ’til next
year.” Always looking to the future himself,
Henry was impressed with the young man’s
vision for his work.
In Detroit, Henry Ford promoted small
water-power plants, and he did so at Berry as
well. He funded the construction of Berry’s
reservoir and the overshot wooden
waterwheel at the Old Mill as well as the
purchase of two other water-powered mills.
He also purchased a brick plant that enabled

Clara and Henry Ford were enthusiastic
about Martha Berry’s approach to education.
Martha believed that people needed to carry
their part of the burden of living, and her
hope and purpose was to prepare citizens
who would make a community better. Her
goal in providing an education was not that
someone would have an easy life, but rather
that a person would work in a manner that
was valuable to society.
In that sense, Martha and the Fords did
not believe in charity or a free education.
They came alongside young people willing to
make an effort to bring out the best in
themselves. The response they sought was a
cheerful willingness to participate in work
that needed to be done, affirming that all
work is honorable if done well.
Keown once asked Henry Ford if there
were still great opportunities for business.
Henry replied enthusiastically that there
were a hundred ways a young person could
be useful and thereby both better the world
and make a good living. He pointed to
homes all around where only one in a
thousand had indoor bathrooms. He argued
that if you focused on improving the lives of
others – endeavors that would make life
easier and happier for everyone, such as
indoor bathrooms – you would likely prosper
yourself, but he saw no purpose in creating a
product just to make money.

Far left: Historic images of Henry
and Clara Ford posing with Martha
Berry on campus and Henry Ford,
seated next to Martha Berry on the
steps of Community House at
Possum Trot, accepting a drink of
water from Irene Sellers (35C). Near
left and above: Edsel Ford, greatgrand­son of Henry and Clara Ford,
views family letters and photos
from the Berry Archives and
prepares with President Steve
Briggs for a video shoot in the Ford
Living Room honoring the
humanitarian efforts of Ford dealers.

According to Keown, Martha never asked
the Fords for money. They talked instead
about what the schools needed to succeed.
What Martha Berry valued most “was their
friendship, and their interest, and their help,
and their good wishes for this place.” For
Martha, “What they gave of themselves was
worth more to the school than what they
gave of their means.” She believed in her
heart of hearts that people who directed
money to support the deserving students at
Berry were choosing to invest in the nation’s
most important natural resources.
Martha Berry’s friendship with Clara and
Henry Ford may have been improbable, but
it flourished because the values she sought to
instill in Berry students were the very values
that invigorated the Fords’ own life’s work.
And so we are honored that Edsel Ford
returned to Berry to celebrate this legacy and
to inspire another generation of citizens to
be equally relentless and unwavering in
service to others. B

it’s the powerful taking advantage
of the vulnerable, and that happens
everywhere – from the dark rooms
of a filthy Philippine brothel and the
knee-deep mud of worm farms in
India to a hard-scrabble patch of
land in Uganda and the well-paved
streets of Atlanta, where the largest
under­ground sex industry in the
United States reportedly flourishes.
In our nation and others, systems
are in place to protect, help and
heal the abused, even if the cracks
through which defenseless adults
and children sometimes fall remain
far too wide open. In many
countries, however, there has been
absolutely no help or hope for the
vulnerable. It’s in these places that
Lisa Slavovsky (01C) has chosen to
walk alongside survivors on their
journey

from rescue to restoration.

14

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

served

by KARILON L. ROGERS
portrait by BRANT SANDERLIN

IT SEEMS SO OVERWHELMING.

SO HOPELESS. FOUR BILLION

PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET LIVE OUTSIDE THE
PROTECTION OF LAW ACCORDING TO UNITED
NATIONS STATISTICS. FOUR BILLION. Whether

they are among the more than 45 million
men, women and children reportedly held as
slaves, the estimated 2 million children
abused in the commercial sex industry, or the
millions of powerless widows and orphans
living in fear of being forced violently from
their homes by more powerful relatives or
neighbors, these massive numbers of human
beings live in places where the systems of
justice cannot or do not protect them from
violence. The laws, courts and police are
broken, corrupt or dysfunctional – or all three.
Yet despite these appalling statistics and
an up-close-and-personal view of some of the
most horrific abuses, Lisa Slavovsky awakens
most mornings full of optimism. As an
International Justice Mission aftercare
specialist, she has seen firsthand what
amazing progress can be made.
“Every victory matters and is a sign of
progress, whether it is one individual who is
safe or the major turnaround we’ve
experienced in Cambodia,” she said of the
work undertaken by the global nonprofit,
which strives to protect the poor from
violence throughout the developing world.
“If we can see a result, we can keep going.”
Currently stationed at IJM headquarters
in Washington, D.C., Slavovsky spent her
first six years with the organization in
Cambodia, a country once viewed by many
as “ground zero” for the commercial sexual
exploitation of young children.
In 2003, IJM President and CEO Gary
Haugen labeled the Cambodian sex trade
and its practice of marketing children as
young as 6 as the most brutal and gutwrenching situation he had witnessed. At
that time, minors – many younger than 15 –
accounted for up to 30 percent of
Cambodian sex-industry workers, and
children were being sold for sex openly on
the streets. From 2009 to 2013 alone,

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

15

INJUSTICE: Staggering statistics

1 in 5 – Girls/women worldwide who will

become victims of rape or attempted rape;
poor girls often are attacked at school

2 million – Children sold into the
commercial sex trade annually

“relentless” and credits its global
team of lawyers, investigators,
social workers, community activists
– Stateless people with no rights
and other professionals with
of citizenship anywhere
facilitating rescues of more than
25,000 people and helping to
– Men, women and children
protect 21 million people from
held in forced-labor slavery
violence and oppression. IJM works
through 18 field offices in India,
– Widows living in extreme
Southeast Asia, Africa, Central
America and South America, and
poverty with half a billion children depending
96 percent of its staff members are
on them for survival
nationals of the countries in which
they serve.
– Amount generated annually
While Slavovsky’s work in
by human trafficking
aftercare begins at the moment of
rescue for individual victims,
Source: IJM website
providing for their immediate
physical
and
psychological needs is just the
Slavovsky and her team provided crisis-care
tip of the iceberg. Aftercare also
services to more than 300 individuals,
encompasses the safe and sustainable return
including 125 victims of trafficking, following
of victims to their communities, and that
police raids on commercial sex
requires a coordinated network of local
establishments. But in 2015, after years of
agencies providing the education, job
collaboration with and among Cambodian
training and other tools victims need to
leaders, police, courts, social services and
survive and thrive.
nongovernmental organizations, IJM
“It’s easy for individuals to be redocumented that the prevalence of minors in
victimized if their vulnerabilities remain,”
the industry had dropped to just 2.2 percent
she explained.
overall and 0.1 percent for those 15 or
IJM’s approach – and Slavovsky’s focus in
younger. The transformation is amazing.
aftercare – is to build and maintain strong
“Despite the large sex industry that
partnerships with local resources and then to
persists in Cambodia, young children are
look for gaps in the pipeline of justice and
now a very small part,” Slavovsky said. “Law
process of restoration. No one entity or
enforcement is proactive and responsive to
agency can address all needs, but when
exploitation and forced prostitution,
united, they become an effective force. And
including the trafficking of minors and
because each stage along the justice
adolescents. What made the difference
continuum is interconnected, Slavovsky’s
across the board was the response of the
work in aftercare also impacts efforts to
public justice system. Originally no one was
bring criminals to justice and strengthen the
prosecuted; police turned a blind eye or
courts. Among many victories in Cambodia,
worse. But the government made a shift and
for example, Slavovsky and her team of four
wanted it to end. Now the changes made in
Cambodian social workers trained police in
Cambodia serve as an example for other
victim/witness interviewing and childcountries about what can be done.”
friendly practices that significantly improved
the ability of police to build rapport with
THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE
children and obtain truthful testimony
IJM works to protect the poor from
against their abusers.
violence by partnering with local authorities
to first rescue victims and then hold
THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG?
criminals accountable, restore survivors and
Slavovsky approaches her work with a
strengthen justice systems so that future
deep sense of faith and purpose that springs
violence is stopped before it begins. The
from her upbringing and was nurtured at
organization describes its approach as

12 million

45.8 million
115 million

$150 billion

16

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

Berry. Her family’s culture of inclusiveness
was a huge shaping factor, and she often tells
the story of a homeless man who frequently
joined her family for Sunday dinner.
“As children, we didn’t think of Joe as
someone who was homeless,” she said. “We
just knew him as someone who laughed with
us, taught us card tricks and was a good
friend to our family. My parents have a deep
belief in the dignity of every person, and
there was always a focus on coming
alongside those who are vulnerable. It was
modeled for us not just in words but in
actions – that we are not the helper and the
helpee but are all equal and are just sharing a
journey through this world.”
Slavovsky came to Berry via the
WinShape College Program created by late
Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy but as a
freshman had no strong sense of future
direction.
“I believe it was a career center adviser
who suggested that I not think about what I
wanted to do for the rest of my life but about
what I wanted to learn,” Slavovsky said.
“She suggested I read through the course
catalog and find what interested me. I did
that and found I wanted to learn everything
that was in the family and community
services major.”
Slavovsky was among the last graduates
of that major, as it began to be phased out
her sophomore year. Yet she remains a
strong proponent of its multidisciplinary
approach and Berry’s hands-on, practical
emphasis; her senior-year project required
her to work 36 hours a week with the Rome
Housing Authority.
“It was almost like a graduate-level
degree,” she declared. “It was a fantastic
foundation for social work practice.”
She also volunteered with several other
Berry students in the local sexual assault
center, discovering a passion for supporting
victims in crisis, and shadowed a Berry
alumna working in foster care with the
United Methodist Children’s Home in
Decatur, Ga. It was with the children’s home
that she took her first job post-graduation, a
position she held for four years until she left
to pursue a Master of Social Work degree at
the University of Michigan.
“There were three Berry alumni working

there as foster care workers,” she
remembered of the children’s home. “When
we needed to fill a position, our supervisor
would say, ‘Go shake that Berry tree!’ He
knew that people from Berry came with a
strong work ethic and a practical,
professional approach. And he understood
from the get-go that our head, heart and
hands approach integrates values into
students, that Berry graduates would do the
work that needed to be done.”
WALKING THE WALK

With master’s degree in hand and
following a graduate internship focused on
child sexual assault, Slavovsky spent most of
2008 in an aftercare fellowship with IJM in
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, before joining the
organization full time in January 2009. That
she ended up staying in the Southeast Asian
nation came as a surprise.
“Atlanta is a hotbed of commercial sexual
exploitation, and I thought the fellowship
would be an opportunity to get equipped to
come back and address those issues,” she
said. “I thought I’d be there one year and
then come back to Atlanta.”
What she underestimated was the love
she would develop for Cambodia and its
culture and how invested she would become
in the efforts of the team there.
Since 2014, Slavovsky has worked out of
IJM’s international headquarters, helping
support newly launching field offices in the
Dominican Republic and Ghana and taking
a temporary role as acting vice president of
aftercare. Today she is responsible for
aftercare services in the organization’s four
field offices on the African continent. She is
focused on identifying what is working well
in the Ghana, Uganda and Kenya offices, as
well as where strengthening is needed and
where they can expand into system reforms.
Ghana is challenged with forced-labor
slavery, Uganda with property grabbing and
Kenya with issues of sexual violence and
police abuse of power.
Slavovsky finds satisfaction in both field
work and overall IJM leadership.
“In-country, you understand all the
nuances, complexities and cultural contexts,”
she said. “I loved getting into not only the
issues but also the responses, partnerships

and innovations to address changes together.
But in D.C., I enjoy the breadth. I love the
way I can connect learnings from Cambodia
to a new setting, to help others see ways to
address overwhelming issues and to bring a
sense of hope. You can see progress from
here that is hard to see when you are in the
midst of it.”
Slavovsky comprehends and accepts that
her role as an individual is not to fix
problems or solve complex issues on her
own but rather to walk, as her parents taught
her, alongside others.

“I am just a vessel, not a power in and of
myself to change things,” she said about her
ability to witness man’s inhumanity to man
without losing heart or becoming
traumatized personally. “I know I am one of
many who together are making change
possible. I have 750 colleagues around the
world who are passionate and innovative,
and we are partners with so many others
globally. We believe strongly that it is
possible to end these global injustices and
have great hope that they will, indeed, be
ended.” B

Helping humanity
AMELIA TODD (12C) ARRIVED AT BERRY WITH A PASSION FOR PERFORMANCE, but she finds
herself now on a very different stage than once imagined. Today, the one-time music and
management major is a first-year lawyer spending six months with the International
Criminal Court in The Hague, working for a judge in trial chambers on cases involving
crimes against humanity.
Todd’s desire to combat human slavery already has taken her all over the world, from
Israel to the Philippines and now to the Netherlands, but it began in an unexpected way:
at a sex-trafficking awareness concert her freshman year at Berry. The concert inspired a
change of tune in Todd, who discovered while doing research for a speech class that her
hometown of Atlanta is a hotbed for sex trafficking and prostitution.
“I was horrified to find out that it was happening in my own city,” she said.
Spurred to action, Todd joined “Out of Darkness,” a local hotline and safe house
founded by Jeff Shaw (04C) that seeks to reach out to, rescue and restore victims of
commercial sexual exploitation. She began spending Friday nights with other volunteers in
downtown Atlanta extending a hand of friendship to sex workers in the darkest parts of the
city. She feared being overwhelmed by hopelessness but was filled with hope instead.
“I knew from that point on that I wanted to work somewhere in the anti-trafficking
field,” she said. “I didn’t know how until the end of my time at Berry when I decided to go
to law school.”
The summer after her first year at Emory University School of Law, Todd interned with
the International Justice Mission in the Philippines, where the sex trafficking of women
and children long had been epidemic. Her fate was
sealed: she focused her career on international and
criminal law, eventually traveling to Israel for meetings
on international humanitarian law with Israeli military
and nongovernmental leaders and working with
federal prosecu­tors on human trafficking cases in the
Atlanta area.
Todd’s temporary assignment in The Hague will
conclude later this spring, but she is just beginning her
quest to find justice for those most in need.

by KATHERINE EDMONDS,
philanthropic communications student writer

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

17

m
i

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C

g
n
i
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BERRY MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;¢ WINTER 2016-17

r
e
h

hig

by MAXINE DONNELLY (16C)

photo provided by Marc Heileman

photos by MARY CLAIRE STEWART (14C)

MARC
HEILEMAN

has spent most of his life reaching for something – usually the
next rock ledge. Now he’s also reaching new heights in the
climbing industry.
IN THE CLIMBING BUSINESS, THERE’S ALWAYS
ANOTHER PEAK ON THE HORIZON. Just ask
Marc Heileman (93C), whose 26-year
journey transformed a hobby into a passion,
a passion into a business, and a business into
a growing mission to help others experience
the exhilaration of scaling new heights.
“Climbing’s the perfect metaphor for life
because it promotes enthusiasm about setting
goals and persevering,” he explained. “You
don’t have to artificially inflate someone’s
self-esteem when they’re climbing. Even
making it halfway up a wall is difficult, so
people get this real sense of accomplishment
when they can reach a goal.”
Once the ninth-ranked competitive
climber in the United States, Heileman today
is founder and owner, with wife Gaylene, of
Treadstone Climbing Gym in Columbus, Ga.
He also serves as an outdoor leadership

trainer and designer/builder of climbing
walls and gyms, boulder rooms, and ropescourse “outposts” in other states and nations.
His business is burgeoning: In addition to
being a source of recreation and fitness
training, the Columbus gym also is a hub of
activity for companies, churches, schools and
military groups interested in leadership
training and team-building exercises. And the
Heilemans are in the initial stages of
franchising Treadstone as well as scouting
locations for other gyms they will operate.
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

Climbing wasn’t always on Heileman’s
radar. Growing up in Angleton, Texas, he
knew nothing about what was then a niche
sport, much less that it would play a central
role in his life. Things changed when he
enrolled at Berry while on a National Guard
BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

intertwined with mine, so when we lost him,
I dedicated myself to preserving his memory
with my own work,” Heileman said, pointing
out that the boots Wingo wore during the
accident now hang in the Treadstone gym as
a reminder of this commitment.
RISK AND REWARD

assignment in Georgia. A single class on the
campus ropes course got him hooked.
“It’s impossible not to be enthusiastic
about climbing,” Heileman said. “It’s a real
accomplishment to be at the top of a rock
wall and know you did this all yourself. Plus,
nothing in climbing is standardized; it’s
different every time you do it. So you can
enjoy the process of getting stronger and
accomplishing your goals without locking
yourself in a basement somewhere and lifting
weights. Climbing takes you beautiful places
you couldn’t go otherwise.”
Heileman channeled this excitement into
his first post-graduation job, helping run
climbing activities for the WinShape
Wilderness program on Berry’s mountain
campus, in addition to building his own skills
scaling such lofty peaks as California’s
14,505-foot Mount Whitney, Africa’s 17,057foot Mount Kenya, and more recently, the
3,000-foot vertical wall of Yosemite’s El
Capitan, a favorite of experienced climbers.
His upward trajectory took a serious turn
in 1998 when an accident on Mount
Whitney claimed the life of good friend and
climbing buddy Jeff Wingo (93C). Although
Heileman wasn’t present when the accident
occurred, it affected him tremendously,
causing him to reflect more deeply and
channel his athletic passion into service.
“Jeff’s climbing career was very closely

20

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

Heileman’s entrepreneurial spark ignited
late in the 1990s when he was working as
activities manager at an Atlanta church gym.
Asked to expand the activities offered, he
responded with: “Why not start a climbing
program?”
“How?” would have been an appropriate
next question. The sport was still so unknown
that very few contractors had the knowledge
to build what was needed. So he did it
himself, drawing on his own knowledge and
experience to build a rock-climbing wall,
bouldering room and ropes course that in
2003 became one of the first church-based
climbing programs in the United States.
About the same time, Heileman authored
an article on the value of rock climbing for
personal fitness that was featured on the
cover of an industrywide fitness management
magazine. The article encouraged gym
operators to bring rock climbing into their
facilities, and demand surged.
“I don’t know how important I was to
that sudden popularity,” he said. “But I was
finding my niche in spreading the word
about climbing. It felt good to help
popularize the sport in ways it hadn’t been
before.”
Encouraged by growing demand,
Heileman launched his company, originally
called Cliff Dweller Rock Walls. It was a
risky proposition considering the industry’s

infancy, and he had to craft a business plan
from the ground up. Soon, however, he was
building rock-climbing facilities as far away
as Kenya.
“It took a lot of hustle in those early days
to convince people rock climbing was
viable,” he recalled. “But I just took every
chance I got to build climbing walls. I
couldn’t walk into an empty building without
visualizing one. I even walked away from a
salaried job to do what I was passionate
about.”
In 2012, Heileman and his wife opened
Treadstone, and the couple has been
reaching for new heights ever since. In
addition to planning for new facilities, he
hopes to spend more time on his own
climbing career and is looking for ways to
expand his role as a consultant: He currently
does significant work as a leadership-training
consultant for Chick-fil-A operators, a role
that brings him full-circle to his first climbing
job for WinShape, an organization created
by Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy and his
wife, Jeannette.
But Heileman’s first priority always is to
spread the joy that climbing has given him.
“At Treadstone, we’ve got a Christcentered mission to help people written into
the business plan,” he said. “But we also want
to give people the confidence that comes
from achieving a goal. Sharing that sense of
capability through Treadstone has been a
great experience. I’m more excited about
climbing now than the day I started.” B
Editor’s note: Now an alumna, Maxine
Donnelly wrote this feature while serving as
a student writer for Berry magazine.

Campaign Priorities
Expand opportunities for students to invest in their own success
Develop leaders and entrepreneurs with character and compassion
Create places and spaces that spur student achievement
Meet current needs and fund future opportunities

supports Berry?
Who
Chet Diercks Jr.
Roswell, Ga.

No penny pinching
for this group!
ANYONE WHO HAS EVER PARTICIPATED IN THE
MOUNTAIN DAY GRAND MARCH can tell you

about the basket at the bottom of the hill into
which generations of students have dropped
gifts of pennies in honor of Martha Berry’s
birthday. Last fall, alumni and friends joined in
the fun through “Pennies for Martha,” Berry’s
new day-of-giving campaign.
Volunteers wearing unmistakable red
t-shirts spread the word up and down the
slopes of Lavender Mountain as well as on
social media, reminding all that gifts of any
size – even pennies! – can make a difference
in the lives of students. Alumni and friends
responded generously with 2,316
individual gifts totaling more than
$20,000 for student work and
scholarships. Thank you
for helping to send a
strong message that
Berry is worthy of
support!

• Husband of Elaine, whom he married in 1992
• Father of two and grandfather of four who recently
celebrated his 90th birthday
• Retired president and CEO, Utility Power Corp. and
Siemens-Allis Inc.
• Berry trustee emeritus, who also served for nine years
on the Board of Visitors
• Graduate of Iowa State University with a master’s
degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Recipient of Iowa State’s prestigious Marston Medal
for achievement in the engineering profession

student photographer Jacob Bushey

WHO HE IS:

WHAT HE SUPPORTS:

• Following the death of first wife Marie, created the Marie L. Diercks Endowed
Scholarship for animal science majors, which has been awarded more than 100 times
(Marie loved animals – particularly horses – and those who care for them.)
• In partnership with Elaine, continues to add to the scholarship, including two charitable
remainder trusts that are estimated to eventually triple its endowment

“

HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH BERRY:

“She never gave up,” he said of late Berry President Gloria Shatto and her invitation
for him to join the Board of Visitors after the two were introduced by one of his work
colleagues. He and Marie then met Berry students firsthand and became impressed with
the animal science program, and the deal was sealed on their belief in Berry. His
involvement remains a family affair; Elaine also has fallen in love with the college and its
students, and the duo has enjoyed personally meeting almost every one of their
scholarship recipients.

ON BERRY:

”

“The students at Berry are not just ordinary students at a college – there just to have
fun or even just to get an education. Berry becomes part of them, and they become part of
Berry. That is unusual in today’s schools. The quality of the school and the quality of the
students are a major attraction to us.”

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

21

Creating places and spaces that spur student achievement

Animal Science Building adjacent to McAllister Hall
Already Berry’s largest major, animal science
is powerfully positioned to become our most distinctive.
WHEN OUR NATION’S 30 SCHOOLS
OF VETERINARY MEDICINE SEEK

Lauren Neumann (16C)

STRONG CANDIDATES, many look
directly at animal science majors
of Berry College. Nearly 90 percent
of Berry students applying for vet
school admission typically are
accepted, a rate twice the national
average; 12 graduates from the
2016 class alone were accepted to
11 different veterinary medicine
programs. Animal science majors
pursuing graduate degrees in other
fields have experienced equally
high rates of success, while dozens have headed directly into careers
in animal-related industries.
Fueled by student success, Berry’s animal science program has
more than tripled in size over the last 15 years, a pace of growth that
has led to both opportunities and challenges. In recent years, the
number of faculty has been increased and the academic curriculum

enhanced. A new Animal Science
Research Laboratory just opened
at the Rollins Center is taking
Berry’s capabilities for animal
science research to a new level,
providing space for hands-on
teaching labs, and making it
possible for more students to work
in research.
Now, we are focused on
relocating the program out of the
60-year-old Westcott Building and
into a major new facility that will
adjoin the McAllister Hall science
center. This building will allow us to meet the urgent space needs
generated by the program’s success. More importantly, it will expand
capacity for our students to participate in research and experience
firsthand what they have heard in lectures or read in textbooks,
helping us provide the type of animal science education few can get
elsewhere as undergraduates.
Tentative Rendering

WHAT’S PLANNED?

n Estimated 23,000 square-foot structure that connects to the west
side of McAllister Hall
n Classrooms:
• Two “Technology Enabled Active Learning” classrooms
• One lecture-style classroom
n Teaching labs:
• General animal science bench laboratory
• Nutrition and physiology bench laboratory
• Microbiology lab
• Easy-to-clean “flex lab” for dissection and necropsy
n Research labs:
• Large shared laboratory for use by all faculty members and
their student assistants
• Three smaller labs assigned to faculty members as needed
for special research projects
n Office spaces:
• Offices for 10 faculty members, the office manager, and the
director of agriculture operations and sustainability
• Work spaces for 10 or more students
n Common area for interaction among faculty, staff and students

22

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

This building is a priority of LifeReady: The Berry College Campaign for
Opportunity. Many naming opportunities are available. To make a gift,
please go to www.berry.edu/gift, use the envelope in this magazine, or
contact Scott Breithaupt (91C, 96G), assistant vice president for campaign
and leadership giving, at 706-238-5897 or sbreithaupt@berry.edu. For more
information, visit www.berry.edu/lifeready/animalsci.

photos by Alan Storey and Jason Jones

Powerfully positioned: Animal Science at Berry College
• Incomparable 27,000-acre campus teeming with wildlife
• Exceptional animal-related work experience for more than 140 students each semester
• Faculty who distinguish themselves as both teachers and scientists
• Innovative curriculum for two areas of student focus: graduate/vet school and animal industries
• Large flock of Katahdin sheep and outstanding herds of Jersey and Angus beef cattle, commercial beef cattle,
and horses
• Gold Standard dairy
• Equine center home to an equestrian team with three national titles

Tentative Rendering

Zane Cochran

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

23

Helping students
become LifeReady

24

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

Frances Wood Wilson Foundation, $40,000 for the new theatre and
Blackstone Hall
WinShape Foundation, $262,524 to fund the WinShape Scholarship
Harry (57H) and Ginna Wise, $20,000 for the new theatre and
Blackstone Hall.
William B. Wright (01c), $14,000 for the Animal Science Laboratory at
Rollins
BEQUESTS
The estate of Helen S. Drummond, $141,950 unrestricted bequest
The estate of Henry H. Drummond (35H), $51,500 unrestricted
bequest
The estate of David E. Gordon (52C), $17,000 unrestricted bequest
The estate of Margaret G. Kincaid, $16,500 unrestricted bequest
The estate of Keith Albert Slayton, $24,350 for the new theatre and
Blackstone Hall

BERRYfunder
Lauren Neumann (16C)

These generous alumni and friends made LifeReady Campaign gifts,
pledges, bequests and estate commitments of $10,000 or more from
May 16 to Oct. 7, 2016. We offer sincere thanks to them and all who
make a gift of any size to Berry. It is our privilege to recognize all
donors annually in the online Berry College Honor Roll of Donors
(www.berry.edu/honorroll).
Anonymous, $200,000 for the Animal Science Laboratory at Rollins
Anonymous, $66,260 for the new theatre and Blackstone Hall
Callaway Foundation, $31,136 to support the F.E. Callaway
Professorship
Wendy Davis (87C), $10,000 for the new theatre and Blackstone Hall
Chester W. Diercks Jr. and Elaine Diercks, $87,703 for the Marie L.
Diercks Endowed Scholarship
Georgia Independent College Association, $25,306 for the general
fund
Georgia Power Foundation, $15,000 for the South Rome Early
Learning Center
Peter (53H, 57C) and Emmaline Beard (55H, 59C) Henriksen,
$18,154 for the Henry and Jessie Henriksen Endowed Scholarship
Henry and Norma Kummer, $30,000 charitable gift annuity that
ultimately will become an unrestricted gift
Roger W. Lusby III (79C) and Candy Caudill Lusby (82c), $10,000 for
the Mr. and Mrs. Roger W. Lusby III Endowed Scholarship
Paul C. and Velma Smith Maddox Foundation, $15,500 to support the
Paul C. and Velma Smith Maddox Scholarship
Ruby Vestal Mills (61C), $10,000 for student scholarships
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution,
$28,000, with $18,000 funding NSDAR Gate of Opportunity
Scholarships and $10,000 supporting the Cabin in the Pines
restoration
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Junior
Membership Committee, $25,000, with $6,000 funding the NSDAR
Junior Membership Committee Gate of Opportunity Scholarship,
$10,000 funding the Berry College Chapel’s new carillon and sound
system, and $9,000 supporting the Cabin in the Pines restoration
J.M. (60C) and Nona Sparks (58C) Patterson, $50,000 for the new
theatre and Blackstone Hall
Donald R. Slater (77C) and Deborah E. Poss (78C), $10,000 for the
new theatre and Blackstone Hall
The William B. Stokely Jr. Foundation, $10,000 for the William B.
Stokely Jr. Scholarship
Virgil P. Warren Foundation, $24,000 for the Eugene Gunby Equine
Center

The crowdfunding portal for Berry College

Join the crowd
THE GROWING POPULARITY OF “CROWDFUNDING” HAS FOUND ITS
WAY TO BERRY’S CAMPUS, making it possible for faculty, staff and

students to seek support from alumni and friends for initiatives
about which they are passionate.
BerryFunder (www.berry.edu/funder) was launched last
summer with two pilot projects: a new Kindermusik program at
the South Rome Early Learning Center championed by Kathryn
Nobles, adjunct instructor of piano and Kindermusik director;
and state-of-the-art equipment for HackBerry Lab, championed
by Dr. John Grout, Garrett professor of business and creative
technologies chair. With these project champions and others
actively soliciting contacts and friends via email and social
media, both initiatives found success. Eighteen SRELC students
are benefitting from Kindermusik, and HackBerry Lab has taken
delivery of a CNC router (a large-format laser cutter is on the
way).
Building on that experience, new projects have been added
supporting such efforts as coyote research and the student
emergency fund.

News from you
CLASS NOTES – THE ORIGINAL SOCIAL MEDIA

1940s
Martha Louise Rooks Wood
Jones (43c) recently celebrated her
100th birthday
surrounded by
more than 100
friends and family
members in
Atlanta. The retired
homemaker
remains active in
her community,
singing in the
Martha Louise Rooks
church choir well
Wood Jones and
into her 80s and
son Mike Wood
continuing to lend
her talents as pianist when needed.
She also enjoys sharing memories of
Berry, where she met late husband
Wallace Eugene Wood (43c) and
served as a personal maid and
reader for Martha Berry.

1960s
Joe Elder (63C) has been
appointed to the Advisory Panel on
Nonionizing Radiation of the
National Council on Radiation
Protection and Measurements, an
organization chartered by the U.S.
Congress to support radiation
protection by providing independent
scientific analysis, information and
recommendations that represent the
consensus of leading scientists.
Stan Aldridge (65C) is a 2016
inductee into the
collegiate Peach
Belt Conference
Hall of Fame. He
served as athletic
director at Georgia
College for 17
years, setting the
framework for the
college’s move to
Stan Aldridge
NCAA Division II
and the Peach Belt
Conference.
Ben Cason (67C) is a former U.S.
Air Force pilot who now volunteers
as an Angel Flight pilot.

1970s
Clarence J. Hunter, M.D.,
F.A.A.P (74C) and Jane Ramsey
Hunter (73C) are married and live in
Fitzgerald, Ga. Jane owns Super
Kids Child Care Center in
Statesboro, which is in its 15th year

of operation. Clarence is medical
director of South Central Primary
Care, which has centers in the
Georgia cities of Fitzgerald, Douglas,
Pearson, Ocilla and Nashville.

CLASS YEARS are followed by a letter that indicates Berry
status. Uppercase letters denote graduates; lowercase
letters denote attended/attending and anticipated year of
graduation.

C,c College
G,g
Graduate school
A,a Academy
H,h
High school
SEND YOUR PERSONAL NEWS, which is subject to editing, to:
alumni@berry.edu. Photos of sufficient quality will be used at
the discretion of the magazine staff. News in this issue was
received May 16 – Oct. 7, 2016.

Clarence and Jane Ramsey Hunter

Francy Geiger (78C) celebrated
five years with Kedrion Biopharma,
an international company that
develops, produces and distributes
human plasma-derived therapies for
treatment of severe, debilitating
conditions. She recently was named
Top Territory Manager, winning a
trip to Italy.
Angela R. Dickey (79C) received
a master’s certificate in conflict
transformation from Eastern
Mennonite University’s Center for
Justice and Peacebuilding. She has
been training others in the field of
trauma and resilience and has
published an article on the subject in
The Foreign Service Journal.

1980s
Dr. Jeanne Thompson Walker
(81C) is principal of Campbell High
School in Smyrna, Ga., leading a
team of talented educators whose
work was featured in the Marietta
Daily Journal and CobbCast blog.
She resides in Smyrna with husband
Doug and children Jessica and
Davis.
Tina DeNicole (85C) has been
appointed
CFO of
Fresh Start
Women’s
Foundation
in Phoenix,
Ariz.

Tina DeNicole

Eddie Gammill (86C) earned a
doctorate from Rocky Mountain
University of Health Professions in
August 2016. He also holds
bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
Emory University’s Nell Hodgson
Woodruff School of Nursing.

1990s
Holly Griswold Currier (93c)
works as a branch office administra­
tor with Edward Jones in Athens,
Tenn.
Amy Durham Mendes (94C)
earned Top Faculty Paper honors at
the Alabama Communication
Association’s annual conference. She
is a lecturer in the communication
department at Dalton State College
and resides in Rome with husband
Vincent Mendes, D.C. (93C) and
daughters Cate, Emma and Claire.
Drew Arrington (98C) serves as a
chaplain and major in the U.S. Army
and is responsible for developing the
educational content of the Army’s
Chaplain Basic Officer Leader
Course. He and wife Allison reside
in Columbia, S.C., with daughters
Anna, Lizzy and Kate.
Quincy Bailey Nation (99C, 02G)
graduated in July from Piedmont
College with an Education Specialist
degree in curriculum and
instruction.

2000s
Paul Johnson (00C) and Tara
DeFreitas Johnson (01C) announce
the Dec. 18, 2015, birth of daughter
Caroline Marie. She joined sisters
Lynn (8) and Jillian (2) at the family
home in Fort Payne, Ala.

Lauren Hayes Roberts (01C) and
husband Brian announce the March
2016 birth of second son Luke, who
joined big brother Joshua at the
family’s Shreveport, La., home. Brian
is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air
Force.
Beth Novian Hughes (02C)
earned a Master of Science degree in
yoga therapy from Maryland
University of Integrative Health and
was a member of the first cohort
nationwide for this new terminal
degree. Beth is owner of Breathe
Yoga Therapy at the Healing Arts
Center of Rome.
Christopher Reardon (02C)
earned a doctorate in computer
science from the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville, in May.
Jeremy Etress (03C) and wife
Carrie announce the June 26, 2016,
birth of their
second
daughter,
Ellison Kate.
She joined
2-year-old
sister Delaney
Leigh in the
family’s
Newnan, Ga.,
Delaney Leigh and Ellison Kate
home. Jeremy
Etress, children of Jeremy and
works as a
Carrie Etress
fraud analyst
at SunTrust,
and Carrie is a teacher at Crossroads
Weekday Preschool.
Aitana Vargas (03C) placed first
for best online hard news piece in
the Los Angeles Press Club’s 58th
Annual Southern California
Journalism Awards competition.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

25

NEWS FROM YOU

photo courtesy of Bob Williams (62H)

A FULL 58 YEARS AFTER GRADUATION, the school spirit of the Berry College class of 1958 is as strong as ever. At their 2016

reunion in Gatlinburg, Tenn., the classmates proudly demonstrated their Viking fever in football jerseys provided by
Bob (62H) and Kay Williams. GO VIKINGS!

Sarah Dubois (05C) and husband
Sean announce the Feb. 1, 2016,
birth of daughter Raelyn Elizabeth.
Thomas Layfield (05C) earned an
Education Specialist degree in
middle grades education from
Georgia Southern University. He is
the instruc­tional technology coach at
East Jackson Middle School in
Ashley Kramer and
Commerce, Ga.
Jeremy Kinnard
Jennifer Carman Sova (05C) and
husband Anton announce the July
Ashley Kramer (07C) and Jeremy
13, 2016, birth of son Edmund Luke,
Kinnard were married July 9, 2016,
who joined brothers Gavin and
at The Wimbish House in Atlanta
Owen at the family home in
and now reside in the city. The
Douglasville, Ga.
wedding party included Kelli Kramer
Jeff Jahn (07C) was one of three
(14C) and Melba Thomas (07C).
finalists in the
Katie Edenfield Price, M.D.
“experienced entrepre­
(07C) has been selected as a 2016-17
neur” category for
assistant chief of
Atlanta Business
medicine for the
Chronicle Small
internal
Business Person of the
medicine
Year. Jeff is founder of
department at
DynamiX Web Design,
Wake Forest
an award-winning
University
website-develop­ment
Baptist Medical
firm based in
Jeff Jahn
Center in
Kennesaw, Ga. He was
Winston-Salem,
the 2015 recipient of Berry’s
Katie Edenfield Price N.C.
Entrepreneurial Spirit Award.

26

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

Whitney Williams Meadows
(08C) and Duncan Meadows (08C)
announce the June 10, 2016, birth of
son Silas Nash Meadows in
Charleston, S.C. Whitney works as a
realtor, and Duncan is director of
youth and children’s ministry at
James Island Presbyterian Church.
Lyndsay Ricketson Brown (09C)
received the Woodie Award for Best
Performance by an Actress in a
Musical for her role in Kiss Me,
Kate. She performs at the Stage
Door Players theater in Atlanta.

2010s

Levi James Russell, son of
Dan and Meredith Briggs Russell
Meredith Briggs Russell (11C)
and Daniel Russell (11C) welcomed
son Levi James on July 13, 2016,

weighing 6.2 pounds and measuring
18.75 inches. The family resides in
Chattanooga, Tenn. Levi James is the
first grand­child of Berry President
Steve Briggs and his wife, Brenda.
Kate Farrar (14C) serves as
director of public affairs, Northeast
and Southeast regions, for Christian
Union.
Andrew Kurila (14C) is a fireman
in Port Orange, Fla. He also serves
as a high school lacrosse strength
coach.
Emily Tedesco (14C) works at the
Department of State in Washington,
D.C., as a foreign affairs officer
focused on Africa in the
areas of intellectual
property rights, access to
safe medicines, and
combating illicit trade.
She represented the
United States at the 14th
meeting of the United
Nations Conference on
Trade and Development.
Emily Tedesco

NEWS FROM YOU

Making a
difference
WHEN NAING K. OO (13C) AND HIS FAMILY
FLED BURMA

(a nation now known as

Myanmar), they settled in Atlanta, and he became
involved in an International Rescue Committee
refugee youth group.
After graduating from Berry and spending two
years with the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso, Oo now
has come full circle. He is the career readiness
specialist in the IRC’s new Connect to Success pilot
youth program aimed at helping refugees ages 16
to 24 gain the skills and direction needed to meet
their educational and career goals.
Oo was one of the “charter” Gate of Opportunity
Scholars at Berry, as well as one of a very special
group of seven refugee students from war-torn
nations who graduated in 2013 despite challenging
and often harrowing personal backgrounds.
Another of the refugee students, Fakhria Hussain
(13C) recently joined the UNICEF-USA
Congressional Act Team, an advocacy group
working to engage members of Congress on issues
related to runaway, homeless, and trafficked youth
and child marriage. In this role, she is learning
about the work UNICEF does in developing nations
such as Syria, Nepal and
her native Afghanistan.
“I’m passionate about
helping children,” Hussain
exclaimed, “and I want to
thank UNICEF for giving
me the opportunity to

Highlighting history
DR. JENNIFER W. DICKEY (77A, 80C)
collaborated with Kennesaw State University
colleague Dr. Catherine M. Lewis and
Georgia First Lady Sandra D. Deal in writing
Memories of the Mansion: The Story of
Georgia’s Governor’s Mansion. The awardwinning book shares the history of the Greek
Revival structure that has been home to
eight first families, as well as behind-thescenes stories of the people who have lived
and worked there.
The book was named one of 10 books all
Georgians should read in 2016 by the
Georgia Center for the Book and awarded a Presidential Citation
from the Georgia Historical Society. It also received the Award for
Excellence in Documenting Georgia’s History from the Georgia
Historical Records Advisory Council and Author-of-the-Year
honors from the Georgia Writers Association. At KSU, Dickey is
coordinator of public history and associate professor of history,
while Lewis is assistant vice president of museums, archives and
rare books and professor of history. Dickey also serves as Berry’s
campus preservationist.

AlumniAuthors
Berry magazine has been notified about the following new
alumni-authored books since our last listing. Congratulations!
Information for all titles is available through a variety of
booksellers online.
n Jennifer

McCoy Blaske (91C), Confessions of a
Wedding Musician Mom, CreateSpace Independent Publishing
Platform, August 2016.
n Mark Wallace Maguire (95C), Alexandria Rising: A
Novel, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, October
2016.
If you have a newly published book (2016-2017) you’d like us
to include, please send your name and class year, book title,
publisher, publication date, and a web address for a synopsis and/
or order information to jkenyon@berry.edu with the subject line
“Berry Alumni Authors.”

advocate for children
around the world!”

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2016-17

27

e dates!
h
t
e
v
Sa

BERRY ALUMNI

don't forget
to send
your photos

WEEKEND &WORK WEEK
May 19-21, 2017

student photographer Sara Leimbach

The next
time you’re
typing a
status update
or tweet, be sure to share with
us as well. Send your news (and
photos!) to alumni@berry.edu
for inclusion in News from You.
Be sure to include your class
year.
If you’d rather put pen to
paper, simply mail to the Berry
College Alumni Office, P.O. Box
495018, Mount Berry, Ga., 30149.

May 22-26, 2017

Condolences

REUNIONS:
High School classes of 1952, 1957, 1962 • College classes of 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967
Academy class of 1967
Watch www.berry.edu/alumni and the Alumni Accent e-newsletter for more details.

BERRY COLLEGE EXTENDS SINCERE CONDOLENCES to family and friends of the following alumni and former faculty/staff. This list includes

In memoriam
The Berry community
mourns the Nov. 1, 2016, death
of A. Milton Chambers (49C),
who served his alma mater with
distinction for nearly a halfcentury, first as assistant registrar
and later as instructor, assistant
professor and associate professor
of business administration.
Upon retirement in 1995,
A. Milton Chambers he was granted the title of
associate professor of business
administration emeritus by the Berry College Board of
Trustees in recognition of his service.
Chambers was preceded in death by wife Jo Ann
White Chambers (51H, 75G), who retired from Berry
after 20 years as director of the Child Development
Center. The couple raised three children on campus, all of
whom earned Berry degrees: Susan (77C); Allyson (80C,
84G) and Milton (78A, 82C). Allyson now serves as the
lead teacher for the South Rome Early Learning Center,
while Milton is operations manager for Berry’s studentoperated enterprises program.

Paul O’Mara

Brian James Thomas (86C) of
Liberty Township, Ohio, Aug. 28,
2013.

Berry students, faculty and
staff lost a loyal, loving friend
with the Dec. 3, 2016, passing of
Virginia Webb (44c).
A steadfast supporter of Berry
whose name graces the college
president’s home, Webb
overcame difficult childhood
circumstances to become a
trailblazer as a woman practicing
Virginia Webb
law in her hometown of
Columbus, Ga. She credited her
experiences as a Berry student in the 1940s with shaping
her future success and made it her mission to provide
similar opportunities for others by generously giving to
scholarships, the Cage Center and other initiatives.
Equally generous with her time, Webb was the 1994
recipient of Berry’s Distinguished Service Award, a
familiar face at Alumni Work Week and one of only five
lifetime appointees to the Alumni Council. When the
Alumni Association established a new award in 2012
honoring those who go above and beyond in their service
to Berry, it was named for her.

Thank you

Former Faculty/Staff

Richard V. Concilio of Marietta,
Ga., July 29, 2016.

SPECIAL THANKS FOR: Memory and Honor Gifts and Gifts to Named Scholarships and Work Endowments. The following gifts were
made in memory or honor of an individual and/or to named scholarships or work endowments May 16 – Oct. 7, 2016.
MEMORY GIFTS

We all row!
Members of Berry’s club rowing team took the school’s Viking chant of “We all
row!” to heart, winning the 5,000-meter “mixed open” event at the Head of the
South Regatta hosted by the Augusta (Ga.) Rowing Club. Afterward, senior
varsity rowers Sidney Elston, Rachel Muehlfeld, Nathan Thacker and Kyle Rubin
hoisted coxswain Elizabeth Blakely (16C) aloft in celebration.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Rubin